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WD Enterprises
ARCHDALE, N.C. (April 22) - Earl Pearson Jr. and the Bobby Labonte Racing Team competed at the Colossal 100 at the Lowes Dirt Track in Concord, NC over the weekend. The 100-lap $50,000 to win feature event was sanctioned by the World of Outlaws Late Model Dirt Series. Earl would finish third in his heat race on Friday night earning a starting position in the 36 car field for the 100-lap feature. On Saturday night the top 24 drivers would draw for their stating position in the feature. Earl would draw the 23rd starting position for the feature.
At the start of the feature Earl would avoid a multi-car melee on the first lap when the outside front row starter spun out in front of the whole field and no caution was waved by the track officials. Earl would decide to run a conservative pace and try an avoid the many cautions and save his car for the second half of the race. Earl also struggled with the difficulty of seeing with the heavy track surface resulting in using all his tear offs by the halfway point of the race. Earl was able to get a new helmet during the red flag for the Chub Frank wreck that enabled him to get the needed tear offs for the heavy track conditions. Earl would advance into the top ten in the final stages of the 100-lap feature but got caught up in a wreck between Doug Horton and Scott Bloomquist. Earl would crash into Bloomquist resulting in his steering wheel being yanked from his hands and causing his to right wrist to get broken. Earl would finish 17th in the final run down.
Earl would visit his personal family doctor on Tuesday following the event and found out in the x-rays that his right wrist was fractured severe enough that he is scheduled to see a surgeon this week to discuss his options and possibly have surgery to repair his wrist. Because of the injury Earls plans for this weekends racing schedule are uncertain at the time of this press release. "Its unfortunate that I got hurt this past weekend. It's funny that during speedweeks I have the worst wreck of my career but only suffer a mild concussion with no broken bones and I didn't miss any racing. Then this weekend I have a simple little collision and not at top speed and fracture my wrist that may cause me to miss some events. Like I've been saying all year I was the first person to say I'll never get hurt in a racecar when I was younger but it's very possible to get hurt each time I get into these cars. Every week we are seeing more of these dirt late models flip and have violent wrecks and now I've broken my wrist along with Michael England. We all need to put safety as a main priority before someone gets seriously hurt", stated Earl.
"Let me also say this about safety. My wreck wasn't caused by any unsafe issues by track officials or track conditions, it was just a freak accident. But it was extremely unsafe of the track officials at Lowes for not calling for a yellow flag when the outside front row starter spun in front of the whole field on the first lap. That was totally a lack of safety on the track officials and put Eddie Carrier and the rest of the field in a very unsafe situation. And several other times cars were crawling to get off the track instead of track officials throwing a caution that could have been a disaster with cars colliding at a high rate of speed with a car almost stopped. Safety issues in the cars we drive are important but track officials must put safety first when running an event. Starting 36 cars is in my opinion is unsafe and tends to cause a lot more cautions than a normal event, then add in the fact the heavy track conditions adds a higher risk of accidents, we need the track officials to put our safety first not any event format, car count or lack of waving the caution flag", stated Earl.
Depending on what the doctors decide on Earl's injury this week will decide if Earl attends and competes at the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series sanctioned events this Friday at Bedford Speedway in Bedford, PA and Hagerstown Speedway in Hagerstown, MD on Saturday. Earl is currently leading the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series national point's standings.
Earl and the Bobby Labonte Racing Team would like to thank all their sponsors in 2008 for their support including LifeLong Locks, Lucas Oil, Mastersbilt Race Cars, Larry Wallace Engines, Mopar, Sunoco Race Fuels, Allstar Performance, Tiger Rear End, BERT, Butlerbuilt, Hyperco, SHY, Wilwood, Woodward, TWM, Dyers Top Rods, Weld, Hoosier Tire, PRC, Wrisco, Sparco, Bell, Mechanix Wear, Oakley, Cheerios, Coke, Dunn-Benson Racing Supply, ASI Racewear, WRT Web Designs, The Decal Source, Rick Schwallie Photography and WD Enterprises.
To learn more about the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series visit www.lucasdirt.com. For more information about LifeLong Locks and the strongest locks on the market today, visit www.lifelonglocks.com. For more information about Earl Pearson Jr. and the Bobby Labonte Racing Team visit their official website at www.bobbylabontemotorsports.com.
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